Alphabet Soup Overdose

I just returned from a conference where I was one of very few pediatricians surrounded by a mass of internal medicine physicians. I spent the week hearing case example after case example about PEs, anticoagulants, PSAs, mammography and stroke prevention. Ugh. Don't get me wrong, I loved the conference and learned a ton. But talking about medicine surrounded by physicians who don't care for kids is a lonely place to be for a week. They did try though. When I asked how a particular statistical method could be demonstrated using a pediatric case example, I was told "There's some great articles out there on otitis media." Oh. Is that what you think we spend hours and hours of studying and years and years of training to treat? *sigh* Such is life as a misunderstood pediatrician trying to make their mark amidst the high powered and intellectually complex yet lucrative adult medical world.

So you can imagine my delight when I saw this article in the New York Times by Dr Perri Klass, a pediatrician. She is the author of "A Not Entirely Benign Procedure" published in 1987, about her journey through medical school. I read this book while I was in medical school and loved it. This was well before I even thought about being a pediatrician! Writing this now makes me want to read it again before I start my position as pediatric clerkship director, if only to remember what it felt like to be that naive, awkward and endlessly excited all at the same time. The article in the Times is about what adult medicine can learn from pediatrics. It definitely gave me a boost of confidence after sitting through debate after debate about the merits of the latest study looking at the newest anticoagulation med for atrial fibrillation. My favorite line of hers is "When it comes to certain aspects of medical treatment, especially hospitalization, perhaps it's time to acknowledge that adults are really just big children." Everyone needs a cookie, a blanket, or a hug at one time or another, regardless of how old they are!